The Stoplight

"Sorry I was late, got stuck at a stoplight." How many of us have used that as an excuse for being late? Or maybe we got stuck behind the person who actually drives the speed limit. Why does it always happen to me?!? If only that light would have stayed green for 3 more seconds or that person would drive 3 miles over the speed limit it would be much more convenient for us, or would it?

It is not unusual to see many students get pulled over driving through campus, more than likely, for speeding. There are many days where I have to speed check myself because sometimes 20 miles per hour does not seem fast enough when running a little behind.

Then there are those days when the world’s slowest driver is in front of me and I mumble and grumble to myself because it is such an inconvenience for me, till I see that hidden cop car waiting to catch an impatient speeding driver heading home from class. That slow driver has saved me several times and ended up being a convenience after all.

Those speeding days were put into perspective one early morning on the way to a greenhand conference. Fellow teammate Chelsey, former National President Ryan Best and I were in the car at 7 in the morning driving down the foggy highway. Chelsey is driving my beloved trailblazer, I am in the front passenger seat singing Cruise, and Ryan was in the back.






Ryan, Chelsey, and I at the Greenhand Conference

I look down for one second and Chelsey slams on the brakes and screams, “OH MY GOSH!!!” I look up to see two vehicles spinning and glass flying right in front of us. Chelsey pulls off to the shoulder, tells me to call 911 and takes off in her official dress and black heels to check on people. By the time I get to my phone another witness was already on the phone. All the victims were a little shaken up, but okay.

The one thing I forgot to mention, I was running late that morning to pick up Chelsey and Ryan. I was getting stopped by what seemed like every red light in Manhattan. Looking back, that last stoplight might have saved us from being in that wreck. A few seconds and we would have been the ones getting hit. All of suddenly that stoplight became a lot more convenient.

There are going to be many so called, “inconveniences” in our lives, but we never know when that inconvenience just might save us from a ticket or being in an early morning car collision that would make for an awful day. Instead of saying that stoplight made me late, one day you could be saying, “it saved my life.”

 For me, that stoplight is no longer an inconvenience.